Do your customers FEEL your business?

Many business owners decide to start a business so they can pursue what they love. Whether you’re passionate about the product or service you provide or just excited about the prospect of creating a great business, you know things can get emotional. Anyone running a business knows that it inspires both positive and negative emotions from those running it and that’s a great way to fuel productivity. However, you also must remember that your customers will have emotions associated with your industry products and services.

How does being aware of feelings tie in with your company’s success? A relationship focused on an emotional connection sets the stage for one-time customers to become lifetime customers. A successful business persona creates a connection when people think of the product or service that you provide. This is what the industry calls creating a “brand” and it’s a tool that all businesses, large or small, can benefit from.

Creating a brand for your business isn’t scary, it just means focusing the way you present your business in a way that’s desirable, memorable and easily accessible to whomever it is that your business appeals to.

The most successful brands (you know who they are) all seem to have one thing in common; consistency in the way they present themselves with the feelings that they inspire in their audience. Think of the brands you’re most loyal to… A great example of brand loyalty is sneakers; audiences feel an emotional connection with certain brands because of the feelings and memories they associate with that brand from their childhood. It seems many relationships boil down to one thing: the way that brand makes them feel.

Who better to know what emotions you face on a daily basis than the one on the front line: you! That’s a great place to start, and you can build from there. Whether your clients visiting you in person, reading a post on social media, or seeing your logo and advertising materials these are all opportunities to express your business’ brand and create that sense of trust through emotion.

Thinking about how you emotionally represent your brand in all aspects of your day to day business life ensures that every time that a client sees your brand they will remember that feeling: the brand new sneakers feeling.

Article also released in the March 2016 Publication Owen Sound Chamber Make it Your Business.